Questions about collections accounts

Hello all, I am new here, and am in need of some personal experience, rather than relying on internet articles to guide me.

So I have about 9 accounts in collections totaling about 3k. I have in the past 1.5 years been working on rebuilding credit. I have 4 credit cards with a total of 2.1k in credit. Over the past year I have paid everything on time, had no delinquent accounts, finished paying an auto loan, and have had my credit limit increase from 300 to 2100. Yet Credit Karma still reports my score as a 554. Once I pay off the $900.00 balance on my credit cards it estimates an increase to about 605- still not good.

My question is this- If I pay off the debts in collection, and the debt companies agree to remove the accounts from my credit report- great.

BUT I know they do not have to do that- and in the case they wont- is it worth paying those accounts off anyways?

Looking for any help I can get. Thank you for taking time to read this- ps. please go easy on me lol. New to all this.

Hello all, I am new here, and am in need of some personal experience, rather than relying on internet articles to guide me.

So I have about 9 accounts in collections totaling about 3k. I have in the past 1.5 years been working on rebuilding credit. I have 4 credit cards with a total of 2.1k in credit. Over the past year I have paid everything on time, had no delinquent accounts, finished paying an auto loan, and have had my credit limit increase from 300 to 2100. Yet Credit Karma still reports my score as a 554. Once I pay off the $900.00 balance on my credit cards it estimates an increase to about 605- still not good.

My question is this- If I pay off the debts in collection, and the debt companies agree to remove the accounts from my credit report- great.

BUT I know they do not have to do that- and in the case they wont- is it worth paying those accounts off anyways?

Looking for any help I can get. Thank you for taking time to read this- ps. please go easy on me lol. New to all this.

It sounds like you are on the right track to get your credit repaired. Each creditor may have a slightly different policy on how they report and it sometimes depends on if it is the same creditor that originated the debt versus if it is a collection agency or a company that perhaps took over your account if the company changed or merged during the year.

If you have the resources I would absolutely recommend paying off the debt regardless of how quickly they will remove any negative items.

IF you can negotiate this as part of your settlement great. Otherwise get it settled and at least start the clock on your credit score improving.

Lastly, please think back and track when you originally defaulted. IF your first default date isn't reporting properly you can use that as additional negotiation to have them remove the negative trade line. Items are supposed to be removed 7 years from original default date and many times lenders aren't as good about tracking the original default date and if you dispute it they will sometimes remove.

There are a number or other credit monitoring and credit repair services available on this blog as well in addition to Credit Karma which could help you as well.

Only negotiate payments on old debts on a pay "pay for delete" basis. It is not worth paying the debts unless you get a deletion in return. Actually, if you pay an old debt, your credit score may drop due to "stimulating" the derogatory trad e line.